Annabeth rolled over lazily, glad to find Percy beside her. He, amazingly, hadn't woken her up whenever he arrived home at some ridiculous time that morning.
Without intending to seem like a bit of a creeper, she enjoyed watching him sleep. It was realistically the only time when he really was quiet. Even when he wasn't talking he tended to be fiddling or shuffling. These things, these tiny little annoyances had become endearing and even the dried up saliva at the corner of his mouth from a certain drooling habit didn't irritate her anymore.
She couldn't deny the soft smile gracing her lips as she watched him. He was so peaceful - his heavy, steady breaths were almost enough to lull her right back to sleep and maybe five more minutes wouldn't hurt...
Until she glanced up at the clock.
"Oh, shit." She shot out of bed. If there was anything she hated, it was being late. Especially when she had an important meeting in a couple of hours and this was her own damn company and anyone working under her who was late would be frowned upon pretty harshly.
An unbearable wash of queasiness settled over her as she stood up. The kind of queasiness where even the slightest movement was completely horrendous and sent her longing to crawl back into bed and sleep for a week or so.
"Whats up?" Percy mumbled, each word slurred by feather pillow and comforter, his eye opening the tiniest peep to assess the situation, whatever it was, lazily. No immediate danger. He closed the his eye again, assuming it was something to do with the fact that he used the last bit of milk last night or the electricity bill was one day overdue or -
"Nothing. Just stood up too -" She shook her head and quickly shuffled to the bathroom (thankfully next door).
He found himself waking up then, sighing and rolling onto his back. The polite thing to do would be to hold her hair out of her face or something, but he knew her well enough by now. Last time he tried that, she kicked him out. Her pride was something important to her, and goddamn the last thing she ever wanted was him looming over her watching the return of last night's pasta. So he stayed, grimacing heavily until the bathroom door reopened.
"I'm late for work." She said, toothbrush in her mouth as she opened the wardrobe, shuffling through the tangled mess of clothes to try to find something to wear.
"You're not seriously going in."
She disappeared into the bathroom again, coming back with a glass of water and perching on the edge of the mattress beside him.
"Don't be ridiculous. 'Course I am."
"But -"
"Percy, I'm fine."
He gave up. She was so stubborn - there was no changing her mind now. The only option was compromise, something he happened to be an expert in.
"What time were you supposed to be in?"
"Half an hour ago."
"Fantastic. Plenty of time to go for some breakfast with me so I at least know you've eaten and then I can drop you at work and pick you up later on when you're done."
Annabeth groaned and rolled her eyes. He knew her so disgustingly well it was scary. Of course she wouldn't have picked up anything to eat on the way to work. She would have picked up a decent coffee, driven over the speed limit and probably would have been hungry by then and would work through the day ignoring her incessantly rumbling stomach.
"Its not like its unjustified. You're clearly not feeling fabulous." He continued. She couldn't look at him - it was all in his eyes. The power of persuasion.
"I'm not ill though, am I?" She stood up, rubbing her stiff shoulder. "So technically it is injustfied."
"Not when I know for a fact that you won't eat if I don't take you for breakfast."
"Only because I'm late. One day won't hurt."
"Annabeth, I'm taking you for breakfast. End of."
She pulled her hair up into a bun.
"Fine." She sighed, hair pin between her lips. She did not feel like eating one bit but honestly, Percy wouldn't give up on stuff like this. It was pointless even arguing. "I've got a meeting at twelve though. If I'm late for that I'll murder you."
He smiled, leaning back into his pillows, propped up against the wall.
"Point taken."
He watched as she peeled her t-shirt off, revealing her bare back. He would always, always be left speechless when he saw her body like this - scars that he could recall each story for, the soft curve of her waist, the sharpness of her shoulderblades. Even the light scattering of spots on her shoulders. She was fucking beautiful and completely unaware of it.
He knew she could feel him watching her, but he didn't care. He could see it in the light, embarrassed smirk on her face. He knew it made her feel good, knowing the way he saw her.
"Do you mind?" She complained with a smile, pulling on her trousers and quickly slipping her top over her head.
"You look different." He admitted.
Gods, this whole thing was going to be so embarrassing. She was going to look so stupid and she was comfortable in her skin as it was then and she didn't want her body to change. She didn't want puffy ankles and she certainly did not want to get fat. She was slender, her legs, her arms, her waist. She was going to look so disproportionate and that made her uncomfortable.
"By that do you mean tired and spotty?" She asked, examining her chin for any extra juicy ones to squeeze before opening her make-up bag.
"No. I don't." His voice was soft as he sauntered over and kissed her cheek, shuffling her out of the way for a couple of seconds so he could grab a t-shirt from his drawer. He sighed as he slipped it over his head, quietly noting that he had put on a bit of chub over the last few months. He needed to start working out again. He wasn't ready for a stereotypical dad bod just yet, thanks. "Your bum looks different. Your boobs look different. And okay so you do look a little tired but you're working loads at the moment so I'll be glad when whatever it is your working on is done."
So would she. Work was massively stressful so being late probably was a little cheeky of her, but at this point she knew maybe an hour out with Percy would do more good than anything else.
"...my bum?"
"Yep."
She looked in the mirror and sighed. She couldn't see it herself and it made her even more uncomfortable. Other people noticing her body changing before she did left her feeling completely out of control and she wasn't used to that. Of course, she couldn't stop her body from doing what it did but she wanted at least some command so she didn't feel so out of touch, even if it was something as small as preventing stretchmarks. She had always been like that. She needed some kind of handle on what was going on around her.
She was concerned about Percy, too. She couldn't think of anything worse than the thought of him losing his attraction for her. It wasn't even like it was a ridiculously remote possibilty. She would be stupid to think that pregnancy wasn't going to do weird, terrible things to her that went even further than her body. it was going to fiddle with her hormones and make her cry and make her angry and make her forget things. She had a feeling she wasn't going to enjoy this much, somehow.
"Don't look so worried, Wise Girl." She gladly fell into his arms. "Its gonna be good. To be honest, I still thought you were something else when we got out from down there and you were literally like a bag of bones. I'm always going to think you're cute, Annabeth."
Amazing. Even a couple of ridiculously, pathetically cheesy sentences could make all the difference. At Least she was reassured for now.
"I need coffee." She grabbed her bags.
"So do I." He followed her down the stairs, being careful not to trip over the cat who was settled in one of her favourite spots - the fifth step, to the left where the carpet hadn't been worn down so much. "Go easy on it though, Wi -"
"I know, Percy.
"...Sorry."
